Akil Mitchell, a former University of Virginia basketball player who currently plays for the New Zealand Breakers in Australia's National Basketball League, suffered an unthinkable eye injury during a game last night, but the good news is he'll be just fine.
The 24-year old big man was inadvertently poked in the eye by Taipans center Nnanna Egwu, which resulted in his left eye coming out of its socket in what has to be one of the most gruesome injuries anyone could ever imagine.
Mitchell was down for about 15 minutes before being helped to his feet and taken to a hospital for treatment, although the Breakers' GM, Dillon Boucher, said specialists at Auckland Hospital had diagnosed only a small amount of damage to Mitchell's eye.
"The early reports are very positive that the injury is not as serious as first feared," Boucher told journalists.
"Akil's immediate recovery has been such that he is being released to return home, but will undergo further medical tests tomorrow.
"This is obviously the best possible news after what was a frightening situation."
Miraculously, Mitchell was in good spirits after his trip to the hospital. He sent out a tweet shortly after the incident to let everyone know he was home and seeing fine.
Warning: If you couldn't tell from reading this article, the video footage below is graphic.
